TECHBITS
Social Ties
Using anonymous Facebook
data from nearly 17 million
social connections in 55
countries, Tufts University
researchers tried to determine
which Facebook friends have
the most impact on someone
getting a job. The answer: It
depends where you live.
They used self-reported
job titles on Facebook profiles
and included three indicators
to determine relationship
strength: tagging someone; having many friends in
common with someone; and
regularly posting on someone's wall. These were used
to assign a friendship-strength
number, from 1 to 100, to every
friend. They found that in all
55 countries, more people get
jobs with employers where
their weak social ties work,
but a strong tie is more useful
for job seekers in countries
with pronounced income
inequality, such as Nicaragua
and Haiti, than it is for those in
countries with socio-economic
equality, such as Slovenia and
the Netherlands.
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY
Cognitive Customer Engagement
IBM's recent study of 15,000 Generation Z shoppers revealed that retailers have their
work cut out for them in meeting the demands of the age group, which represents $44
billion in estimated buying power. Gen Zers value quality over price and want to be
engaged with brands across all digital channels; 66 percent of them often use more than
one digital device, and 60 percent won't use an app or website if it loads too slowly.
IBM also found that only 19 percent of retailers can provide a highly personalized
digital shopping experience, and 84 percent don't offer any in-store mobile services.
Cognitive capabilities can help retailers close this gap between demand and delivery by
helping them take information from all types of engagement and act quickly across multiple channels. IBM's cloud-based cognitive solutions, such as IBM Watson* Customer
Engagement, can examine customer data and combine it with data such as pricing
trends, buying behaviors and supplier availability to deliver customized experiences.
SOURCE: IBM
8 // MARCH/APRIL 2017 ibmsystemsmag.com
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